The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Hal Mitchell

Followed Tally Stevens. Hal Mitchell held BYU at Regional Program V for 3 seasons.

8–22
1961–1963 · 1 stint
BYU
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerBYURegional Programthe building-block levelBYU, 1961: 2-8, Regional Program V1961BYU, 1962: 4-6, Regional Program V1962BYU, 1963: 2-8, Regional Program V1963-1.4One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

BYU, 3 seasons
−1.4
Regional Program V → Regional Program V.

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

0–6 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Ray Nagel.

Rivalry record
0–6
0.0% · 2 rivals
One-score games
2–5
28.6% · margin ≤8
Rivalry ledger
Utah0–30%
Utah State0–30%
The toughest matchup
vs. Ray Nagel0–3
3 meetings, 1961–1963
’61 L’62 L’63 L
0% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
National Program
1–10 9.1%
Regional Program
4–8 33.3%

Coaching career

1961–1963
BYUcaretaker
Regional Program V → Regional Program V
Hal Mitchell held BYU at Regional Program V for 3 seasons.

11th-best BYU tenure of 12 by the numbers.

Followed Tally Stevens (1959–1960) · succeeded by Tommy Hudspeth (1964–1971).

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